MUVGDC 2012 Brand
Introduction On Nov. 3rd, 2012, Jacob Mauger gave an informal presentation on branding (PowerPoint and other relevant information forthcoming). The method that he decided to use for VGDC 2012 was a method known as hedgehog branding. After his presentation, we collectively decided as a group to state our brand as such: "VGDC2012 focuses on the educational aspects of video game development and design within a progressive methodology." This vision statement will be used when designing all club materials and promotions in connection with the 2012-2013 iteration of Video Game Design Club. It will also temper aspects of our core game development methodology. Rationale In order to understand how we came to this brand, it is important to understand the nature of hedgehog branding. Mauger revealed that this branding-type involves answers to some basic questions: *What do you love to do? *What are you best at? *What are you not best at? *What drives your economic engine? The purpose of answering these questions is to determine where our focus should lie.As a group, VGDC2012 answered the questions thus: *We are gamers who love to create. *We are best at our progressive structure. *We are not best at representing the game industry as a whole. Our "economic" engine (interpreted loosely) is helping people gain the skills and experience that they need to function in the industry or on their own. Underlying Assumptions These is the underlying assumptions surrounding our answers: We are gamers who love to create. We make games, involve ourselves in all phases of the game development process, play games by ourselves and with others, and try to understand basic games-related topics. We are best at our progressive structure. We possess diversity in both knowledge and in our workforce. We have people with many interests and skillsets from all levels pertinent to the industry. We possess demographic diversity and try to temper our club based around this diversity. We also follow a simple/complex design model in the sense that we try to make our game simple enough for the end user to understand and enjoy while having our designers in all aspects of the process answer tough questions. We also are the best at organization: things seem to be organized and moving smoothly. We are not best at representing the industry. While we do focus on some industry soft skills (team work, the game development and design pipeline, and creating design documentation), we do not focus on proprietary skills (focusing on C++, Maya, etc.). Instead, we see ourselves as a possible stepping-stone for both industry work and indie work. We prefer easy, cheap, or free methods to help people gain the basic knowledge set that they need (for example, using Java over proprietary tools). They can then tailor this toward their interests when they leave the club. We also welcome people of all knowledge levels and experience. Our "economic" engine is helping people gain the skills and experience that they need to function in the industry or on their own. We have also decided that we are going to temper this goal with targeted appeal. For example, we might as a team try to figure out how to attract more female players to play our game in a male-dominated genre (real-time strategy). This was decided upon since it was deemed a necessary skill to possibly change the industry and way that games are designed. Conclusion In the end, we decided on a basic mission statement that ties all of these elements together and helps us define how we will approach running the club and how others see us. In short, this mission statement is our brand and will remain such for the remaining school year, although aspects of it can be challenged and possibly changed if we find that they are not feasible.